


Mission Accomplished

by Myrime



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Don't copy to another site, F/M, Family, Fluff, Humor, Iron Family, Parent Tony Stark, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Tony Stark Has A Heart, too much candy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 10:49:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20256901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myrime/pseuds/Myrime
Summary: "I said I didn't want to be disturbed," Tony snaps at FRIDAY, wondering why he bothers to put the workshop on lockdown at all when that is going to be ignored anyway."Distress calls from Miss Morgan take priority over that," FRIDAY replies coolly.Tony is moving before she has even finished talking.





	Mission Accomplished

**Author's Note:**

> Another entry for the [Iron Man Bingo 2019 Round 2](https://iron-man-bingo.tumblr.com/), square: "So you betrayed me with Uncle Rhodey."
> 
> Another short Morgan Fic. Enjoy!

Blue, Tony thinks, is the perfect colour. It reminds him of the sky – not the dark nothingness of space but the hopeful stretch of horizon he could get lost in while flying. It is also the colour of the dress Pepper wore when they first danced and Tony first realized that she is his home in more ways than one.

It makes sense to paint her suit blue. Tony is nowhere near the point where he has to make decisions about the paintjob, however. More even than the War Machine suit, this one will have to contain all the security measures Tony can think of and more on top of that. He might have been lax about these things with his own suit, but the most important thing is his family.

“Boss,” FRIDAY’s voice interrupts Tony’s smooth motions while he spins the holographic specs in the air in front of him.

Now that his concentration is broken, he notices that his hands do not move as steadily as they should, but he dismisses that thought. He is still in the planning stages. Before he does not do any of the actual work, he does not need to worry about trembling fingers.

Tony glares at one of FRIDAY’s sensors. He has muted her hours ago because she kept reminding him to take a break or relayed messages from Pepper ordering him to do the same.

Ever since moving out to the lake house, Tony has become much better regarding his working hours. He has more important things to take care of now. He still cares about rebuilding and bettering as much of the world as he is capable of, even after failing to stop Thanos, but his family will always come first. His daughter most of all.

This is important too, though, he thinks as he stares at the plans for the suit he is going to call Rescue. He has talked about this with Pepper a dozen times over the years, begging for her permission to build her a suit. He has never meant for her to go out to play vigilante like he did. It is a simple safety measure.

Life has become quiet since the Snap. Tony’s fears have come to pass, the ultimate enemy has come down from the stars and wiped out half of the universe. That does not mean that the danger is over or that Tony has stopped being afraid. On the contrary, fear has become so familiar, and he has now more to lose than ever. He has gotten lucky once, and Tony does not trust that fate will spare him again.

His nightmares have changed now but they still come. Some nights he dreams of entering his daughter’s bedroom and finding nothing but a pile of ash on her bed. Some nights, he calls out for Pepper and gets only silence in return, the house utterly empty. He is still seeing the dead bodies of the Avengers too, joined by his family. Sometimes Peter is there, asking why Tony did not save him.

Often when he wakes from these dreams, Tony’s left arm is aching, accompanied by his stumbling heartbeat. It is a constant reminder of his own mortality. He has never minded that before, but now he has something worth living for.

The Rescue suit is a contingency. He is fond of those. _Just in case_ has been his motto since Afghanistan beat _What could possibly go wrong?_ right out of him.

“Boss,” FRIDAY repeats, causing Tony to stop his work unwillingly.

“I thought I said I didn’t want to be disturbed.” Despite his irritation, Tony hears the fondness in his own voice. He cannot be angry with his robotic kids for doing their job.

“Distress calls from Miss Morgan take priority over that,” FRIDAY answers, the merest hint of sharpness beneath her words.

Immediately, Tony is alert, the Rescue suit forgotten in front of him. The only reason he does not move yet, is because he needs to know what kind of trouble they are talking about and whether he needs to activate the security system, although FRIDAY should have already done that.

“What happened?” Tony demands, the well-known feeling of fear settling in his bones.

“Do you want me to open a –”

“Yes,” Tony cuts her off.

Despite his expectations, no video feed comes up on the screen. That means Morgan is either out of range of any of FRIDAY’s cameras – which is almost impossible anywhere on their grounds – or the situation is not as dire as Tony immediately feared.

“Daddy?” Morgan’s voice fills the workshop, containing an unmistakeable tremble.

Tony is moving even before she falls silent again. “I’m coming,” he promises and wishes he could guarantee that he will always be there for her.

The workshop door opens smoothly for him as if he has not ordered a complete lockdown hours – perhaps days – ago, and Tony takes two stairs at once on his way up. He realizes too late he has not asked where Morgan is, but that turns out to be unnecessary because he finds his daughter sitting on the couch in the living room, healthy and whole, beaming up at him, and surrounded by candy wrappers and an empty jar usually filled with homemade cookies.

“Dad,” Morgan squeals when she sees him, her tone the complete opposite from the fearful quiver it was the few seconds ago it took him to come up from the basement.

Tony skids to an abrupt halt, his heart still racing, while his mind tries to catch up with the fact that there is apparently no emergency, that his daughter is all right.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tony sees a shadow moving from the living room off towards the kitchen. He recognizes the slightly too smooth gait of Rhodey, still aided by the braces Tony made for his legs, and that is the only reason he does not rain hell down on the supposed intruder.

“Morgan,” Tony says, when he has calmed enough to feel the smile he has automatically directed at his daughter. He steps into the room, but does not get the chance to say anything further because Morgan jumps up and throws herself into his arms.

Tony catches her without hesitation. From up close, he sees the remains of more than one juice pop smeared across her mouth, but he lets her press her sticky face against his shirt anyway. It is not like he is much cleaner after his working binge.

For a long minute, Tony just holds on to her. Her warm weight in his arms will forever be a miracle, making him fall in love with her a little bit more every day.

“What happened?” he then asks, in this quiet, soft tone he did not know he could produce until the first time he held his new-born daughter.

“You’ve been gone forever,” Morgan answers immediately with a small pout. “Mummy said you’d have to get it out of you,” she continues, obviously quoting Pepper, “but Uncle Rhodey said you sometimes need help to get out of the basement.”

Tony has not even known that Rhodey planned to come over. None of them is actually good at sticking to plans, of course, with the notable exception of Pepper, and that has only gotten worse since Rhodey joined the universe-wide efforts of bringing some semblance of order back for all of them after the Snap. These days, he is as likely to travel through space – _willingly_ – at Carol Danver’s side, as he is to stumble through their door, demanding some real food after weeks of alien slush.

For decades, Tony has missed his best friend, wishing his work would not keep him on another continent so often. Now, there are usually whole galaxies between them, and that is infinitely worse. Although Tony is glad for Rhodey to have found his place in this new world of theirs, and a budding romance too, although he keeps denying it. Carol, of course, is much more open about it.

“Help?” Tony asks his daughter, at once grateful and sad that she does not see anything strange about her space-travelling surrogate uncle.

Morgan nods happily. “He gave me lots of candy so I would try to sound sad when Fri called you.”

Tony tries to look stern but guesses his amusement must show, because Morgan’s smile turns wicked. “So you betrayed me with Uncle Rhodey? You and FRIDAY both?”

He will have to have a serious talk with Rhodey about appropriate measures and the allowed sugar intake of four-year-olds, but he cannot help but be glad that Rhodey is still here to pick up his slack, just like he has done since their MIT days. Without that, Tony would have never made it this far.

“No,” Morgan insists, frowning, “we helped.”

Tony turns so they can both look at the veritable battlefield on the couch. “And ate our whole pantry out of sugar.”

Not chastised in the least, Morgan giggles. “Juice pops are in the cooler downstairs,” she corrects him without the slightest trace of shame. “We only took the cookies from the pantry. Uncle Rhodey brought the candy.”

“Of course,” Tony says slowly but cannot pretend to be mad.

With Morgan still in his arms, he walks over to the couch table and gets a tissue out of the box Pepper keeps there. Morgan squirms when he wipes at the juice pop smears in her face but does not try to get free completely. It always warms Tony’s heart when she seeks his company. He cannot remember ever having done the same with his own father – not that it would have been encouraged.

“But you feel all right?” Tony asks once Morgan looks less like she has tried to turn juice pop into makeup. “No aching tummy?”

Morgan shakes her head but then looks at him earnestly. “I missed you.”

The worry in Tony’s chest unknots, making him feel all warm and happy. “Missed you too, hon,” he says. It is the complete truth. Ever since Pepper told him about the child growing in her, Tony has loved his daughter, more than he ever thought he could love anyone. “I didn’t notice how long I was gone.”

“Uncle Rhodey says you can’t read clocks,” Morgan says, no judgement or anger at his long absence in her tone. Tony really does not deserve someone as perfect as her. “Maybe I can help you.”

Biting down on his smile, Tony nods. “That is a very good idea.” The need to have a serious talk with Rhodey grows bigger by the minute. “Now, how about you brush your teeth while I greet Rhodey?”

He turns towards the stairs but stops again when Morgan grips his shirt right over his heart. “You can’t be angry with him.”

Amusement spreads through Tony but he keeps it from his face. “Oh? Why not?”

With complete innocence, Morgan answers, “Because he helped me bring you back.”

Tony sighs to mask the way he melts inside. “All right,” he agrees, inclining his head. “I won’t yell at him. Too much.”

He is rewarded with another brilliant smile. “Love you, daddy.”

And Tony, who has always been afraid of love because he never quite thought he deserved it, feels like nothing has ever been easier than to smile back at her and say, “I love you too.”

With that, he puts her down on the ground and gives her a playful shove towards the stars,

“And put that candy out of your pocket. You’ve had enough,” he admonishes lightly. “And don’t tell your mum about this or she’ll have my hide.”

Morgan laughs even while she shakes her head. “Mummy loves you.”

Another wave of warmth spreads through Tony. “She also loves sensible and healthy life decisions.” They share a conspiratorial grin, secure in the knowledge that they are a family and nothing will change that. “Now, off you go.”

Morgan makes a face, purely for the sake of making her protest known, but turns towards the stairs. Tony watches her go and does not say anything when she leaves the remaining candy in her pocket. She is the biggest miracle of his life. There are so many things Tony would change if he had the chance, but he cannot regret where life led him because he would not change having her for anything.

Once Morgan is out of sight, Tony turns around and strides off towards the kitchen. “Rhodey,” he yells, and swears he can hear another giggle from upstairs.

They all know he is not mad at Rhodey but that he will make a show of it nonetheless. He also knows that Rhodey will hold the coffee machine hostage, which is a fool-proof method of getting Tony to agree to inane schemes like proper self-care.

Whatever irritation Tony has felt at Rhodey and FRIDAY’s deceit has mostly drained out of him already anyway, softened by his conversation with Morgan and the exhaustion he now feels creeping up on him.

His work is important, especially since it concerns his family’s safety, but he _has_ missed Morgan, and her immediate needs will always mean more than Tony’s contingency plans. Tony is sure he will take a break from going down to the workshop at least until Rhodey has left and Morgan and Pepper are asleep again.

Spending time with his family is the most precious gifts of all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
